KUALA LUMPUR – The Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) may conduct an internal investigation into the Malaysia Football League (MFL) for not thoroughly addressing issues surrounding local football clubs’ licensing process.
The governing body’s response follows a warning issued last week by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to both FAM and MFL regarding the risk of losing their authority to grant national licences to M-League clubs due to unpaid wages.
The recent revelation that Super League side Kuala Lumpur City FC received a club licence for the 2024-25 M-League season, despite unpaid Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions reportedly since February 2023, prompted the AFC to act.
Violations of club licensing regulations could result in no Malaysian representatives (football clubs) being eligible to compete on the Asian stage in the future.
Speaking to Scoop, FAM deputy president Datuk Mohd Yusoff Mahadi revealed that the AFC has yet to conduct investigations into both FAM and MFL regarding the licensing issue.
Yusoff said that FAM’s role is to approve the clubs’ licensing process, while MFL is responsible for reviewing and verifying the clubs’ documentation before submitting it to the governing body.
“The issue began with KL City, as AFC was curious about how they obtained their licence despite ongoing wage issues. Hence, I clearly understand AFC’s concerns.
“We have granted full authority to MFL to check the documents of the clubs before we finalise the licence. So, we work based on what we receive from MFL.
“If there is a violation, there will be penalties for the parties involved, as we have regulations in place. Therefore, we need to first see if KL City has violated the rules based on AFC’s investigation report.
“We may conduct an internal investigation and also take action against MFL for submitting KL City’s and other football clubs’ documents without proper review. However, let’s not speculate for now and just wait for AFC’s investigation report,” Yusoff said when contacted.
In 2022, the AFC Club Licensing Task Force suspended the Iranian FA until they addressed and rectified their Club Licensing Administration to the satisfaction of the AFC General Secretariat.
The ban prevented 2020 AFC Champions League finalists Persepolis, two-time Asian champions Esteghlal, and Gol Gohar Sirjan from taking part in the 2022 competition. – July 29, 2024